From Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Graduated from the University of Tokyo Department of Urban Engineering in 1971. While a student, I developed an interest in serious environmental issues and decided to enter the environmental field. Centering on environment agencies, I was involved in a range of issues under the environmental policy such as environmental impact assessments, the atmospheric environment, aquatic environments, environmental conservation, global warming, and international environmental policies. I became the head for the National Institute for Environmental Studies institute in 1999 and a professor at the Nagoya University Graduate School of Environmental Studies in 2001. I have also been a professor at Sophia University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies since April, 2005. I specialize in environmental policy and my hobbies include playing the piano. I am looking forward to the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Romantic composers in 2010.

I specialize in environmental policy and I teach the following four subjects:

1. Environmental Policy
2. Environmental Administration
3. Global Environmental Policy
4. Policies

My research targets recycling-oriented societies, transportation, and measures against global warming and is related to participatory-type policies. I am currently engaged in research regarding the formation of participatory-type environmental policies as well as in comparative research on recycling-oriented societies and economic policies in Japan, China, and South Korea. To be more specific:

1. Research relating to participation in environmental policy (policies that use participatory conference)
2. Research on policy proposals relating to recycling-oriented societies by civic participation (social research targeting Nagoya City)
3. Research relating to improvements in the management capabilities of waste materials and resources in the Asian region (comparative research on recycling policies in Japan, China, and South Korea)

4. Research relating to the development of routes to formulating groundbreaking policies in order to realize EST (sustainability)

5. Analytical research on plans for implementing measures against global warming in local government bodies

Japanese society faces the need for structural reform of the environment, but the creation of a vision and a methodology necessary to realize this is still underway. Aware of this problem, I seek to conduct problem solving and proposal-type research that focuses on actual problems and regional communities, with the main topic of my research being proactive participation of the people that comprise a society in the formation and implementation of policy. In particular, my main focus is on the application of this to environmental policies for methodologies and for participatory conferences developed in the flow of scientific and technological social studies.

(1) <Human Resource Development> Specialists in environmental policy are like the conductor of an orchestra (a general capacity to understand, affection, and leadership are all necessary skills and qualities). Education is provided in order to develop leaders who will take charge of environmental problems. Students can expect to flourish in areas such as environmental policy research, government, environmental management in industry, environmental consulting, and environmental NPOs.

(2) Students will gain fundamental skills relating to environmental policies. They will develop the ability to set objectives in environmental policies, determine strategies for achieving these objectives, clarify policy measures and put into practice as well as evaluate policies—in other words, an ability in PDCA management. Furthermore, they will develop the ability to engage in dialog with actors involved in environmental issues.

(3) Practical-type learning and research through participation in environmental research projects that are conducted by me.

I will introduce my seminar by quoting the following excerpt from an email that I received on December 31, 2006 from a master’s degree student who was at work.

“I am extremely grateful for the kind instruction that I receive in classes and seminars. Outside of class, visits to Tokyo Electric Power Company and Nippon Steel Corporation factories, the training camp at Karuizawa and fieldwork at Toyoshima were all wonderful experiences. Also, as graduate students, we are very lucky to be able to receive information by email about such things as seminars, workshops and conferences. I never had these kinds of experiences in the past. I cannot help admiring and at the same time am surprised with your active roles in and outside Japan, including your overseas trip right up to the very end of the year. I am very much looking forward to studying with you next year.”